


Thanks, Izuku

by Graendal



Series: Shouto, Prince of the Underworld [2]
Category: Hades (Video Game 2018), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Friends to Lovers, Inaccurate Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, POV Midoriya Izuku, Pining, Prince Todoroki Shouto, References to Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Temporary Character Death, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor's Bad Parenting, hades au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24977209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graendal/pseuds/Graendal
Summary: Instead Of Getting Hit, Don’t — from Izuku’s POV.You can read it without the main fic, but it will make more sense in context.—“H-How’d it go, Prince Shouto? Welcome back to the House!” Izuku smiles encouragingly.“How do you think it went?” The Prince shoots a glare his way — okay, fair, it’s clear how that might have been an insensitive question. The harsh expression softens just a bit, and he sighs. “And I’ve told you before: just Shouto. I have no interest in being Prince anything.”“Ah, I see it says you d-died to some spikes this time.” Izuku swallows. He can do it. He can give some helpful advice. “Have you tried, um, not standing on the trap when the spikes come out?”“Right.” Shouto rolls his eyes. “Thanks, Izuku. Instead of standing on spikes, don’t. I’ll remember that.”Shit. Why can’t he ever manage to put the right words together?Don’t stand on spikes,ugh— he’s not an idiot, but he sure sounds like one sometimes. It never seems to be an issue aside from when he’s around Shouto.“You’re welcome!” he calls after the retreating back of the prince. Even if that ‘Thanks, Izuku’ hadn’t been entirely sincere, he’ll respond…aspirationally.
Relationships: Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto
Series: Shouto, Prince of the Underworld [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807870
Comments: 20
Kudos: 189
Collections: BNHA fics that make me burst into tears, TodoDeku Week 2020, TodoDeku for the choosy





	Thanks, Izuku

**Author's Note:**

> For day 2 of Tododeku Week 2020: Mythology
> 
> With wonderful art by [@uraqt](https://twitter.com/uraqt_hun)!
> 
> The main fic also now has some wonderful art done by Steph! This scene takes place shortly after the events covered by this companion fic. ([@s_holdthebus](https://twitter.com/s_holdthebus/status/1281594763578204163?s=21)) Please go let her know if you liked it!
> 
> If you like what you’ve read from me so far, consider subscribing to me on Ao3 so you get notified when I post anything else.
> 
> Coming up:  
> • Day 3: Names — Class 1-A goes geocaching  
> • Day 4: Parallels — Ballet dancer Izuku and figure skater Shouto social media fic  
> • Day 5: Studying — College roommates (and new couple) Izuku and Shouto try to get some studying done with limited success  
> • Day 6: Music — Inspired by Vienna Teng’s _Recessional_ , estranged pro heroes Izuku and Shouto meet again while stranded in an airport  
> • Day 7: Home — Izuku and Shouto adopt another dog

Izuku rouses at the sound of someone splashing out of the Pool of Styx. Momo, maybe? Has Prince Shouto been gone long enough to have gotten past her?

He rubs his eyes and looks over.

Oh, shit. It’s not Momo. It’s the prince. And he doesn’t look happy. Izuku’s heart twists. Prince Shouto deserves better than to be trapped down here when he wants to be free to go find his mother. 

It makes sense for Izuku and Momo and the rest of them to reside here, since they’d come into existence to fulfill purposes specifically requiring their presence in the Underworld. But Shouto has no such purpose aside from whatever Endeavor keeps trying to force him into doing. His mother is on the surface somewhere, supposedly, and he should be allowed to seek her out.

Instead, he’s stuck fighting his way through hordes of enemies ordered to prevent him from escaping at all costs. Over and over and over again.

And he won’t give up; it’s not in his nature.

Izuku scrambles to check the records for what had happened. Knowing the cause, maybe he can help—

A spike trap.

He died in a spike trap? Izuku frowns. Surely he has the necessary reflexes— Spike traps are fast, but there is a bit of a delay (a little under half a second) between when they detect pressure and when they become deadly. According to Mei, anyway.

“H-How’d it go, Prince Shouto? Welcome back to the House!” Izuku smiles encouragingly.

“How do you think it went?” The Prince shoots a glare his way — okay, fair, it’s clear how that might have been an insensitive question. The harsh expression softens just a bit, and he sighs. “And I’ve told you before: just _Shouto._ I have no interest in being _Prince_ anything.”

“Ah, I see it says you d-died to some spikes this time.” Izuku swallows. He can do it. He can give some helpful advice. “Have you tried, um, not standing on the trap when the spikes come out?”

“Right.” Shouto rolls his eyes. “Thanks, Izuku. Instead of standing on spikes, don’t. I’ll remember that.”

Shit. Why can’t he ever manage to put the right words together? _Don’t stand on spikes,_ ugh— he’s not an idiot, but he sure sounds like one sometimes. It never seems to be an issue aside from when he’s around Shouto.

“You’re welcome!” he calls after the retreating back of the prince. Even if that ‘Thanks, Izuku’ hadn’t been entirely sincere, he’ll respond…aspirationally.

One day, he might be able to articulate himself well enough for it to be genuine. Hopefully sometime before Shouto succeeds in escaping the Underworld, never to be seen again.

As for what else he could try to articulate…in the astronomically unlikely scenario that Shouto feels the same way, it would just be a distraction from what he’s trying to accomplish. There’s no point.

* * *

The next time, it’s Momo herself who kills Shouto.

She’s a force to be reckoned with, for sure, and Shouto does _not_ look pleased about having faced her. That has to be uncomfortable. Heart-wrenching, even. To Izuku’s knowledge, Momo and Shouto have always been on fairly good terms. Probably they still would be, if it weren’t for Endeavor ordering Momo to prevent Shouto from reaching the surface. Or maybe they still are, in spite of that?

Setting comrades against each other in a fight to the death is despicable, but it’s what Endeavor has stooped to in order to try to prevent Shouto from succeeding.

Either way, Shouto could probably use a friend. A warm welcome. Someone he can count on to support him instead of oppose him.

“It’s good to see you again, Shouto,” he says, once Shouto has finished wringing the blood from the Pool out of his clothes. He smiles brightly.

Shouto gives him a flat look. “You realize that seeing me again means I died, right? I’d appreciate it if you’d celebrate my failure a little less vocally next time.”

Izuku wilts. Damn it. Why does it always come out wrong?

* * *

“Izuku.”

He jerks awake. Momo is standing before him, shifting from foot to foot.

“What’s up?” He tilts his head. “Do you need something?”

“Prince Shouto managed to get past me this time,” she says, with a grimace. “Lord Endeavor wants to speak to me about my inadequate performance.”

“Oh,” he says, frowning. There’s not much he can do about that.

“So I might not be around to meet the prince when he returns. _If_ he returns.” Her teeth worry at her lip.

If he returns. Izuku swallows. “Is there some message you want me to pass along?”

Momo leans closer, and speaks with a lowered voice. “He didn’t look very happy about…having to do what he did to get past me. If you could just let him know I’m fine, that might be helpful.”

He nods, and she moves along to face her fate. Endeavor’s angry voice carries down the hall, and Izuku winces.

Sure enough, Shouto emerges from the Pool of Styx a little while later, mouth a flat line, brows drawn together. Izuku glances at the records — a skullcrusher had done it, this time. A gruesome way to die. 

His heart aches. How much more will Shouto have to suffer before he succeeds in escaping?

“Did you see Momo?” Shouto asks, before Izuku has a chance to speak up.

“Yeah, I did,” Izuku says. “She was fine! Regardless of what happens out there, she’ll always come back to the House in one piece, just like you.”

“I’ll always come back, hm?” Shouto sighs. “You might be right.”

“No, that’s— I didn’t mean it like that!” Izuku waves his hands. “I’m sure one day you’ll make it all the way out and none of us will ever see you again. Well, maybe Tokoyami will, but the rest of us who don’t go up to the surface—”

Shouto shakes his head. “Whatever. It’s fine. Where’s Momo?”

“She mentioned that your father wanted to speak to her about her...performance.” Izuku chews the inside of his cheek as Shouto’s eyes flare. Maybe she hadn’t wanted him to pass along that particular piece of information.

It might be best to redirect Shouto’s attention. “So a skullcrusher got you this time, huh? That can’t have been pleasant.”

“It wasn’t.”

Of course it wasn’t. What a useless thing to say.

But… Izuku has made it a bit of a hobby to study the various forms of wraiths and wretches the shades of the Underworld take on after they have relinquished the vestiges of their humanity. Maybe it would be helpful to Shouto if he passes along what he’s learned.

“Skullcrushers lurk near the ceiling until their prey has stopped moving long enough to allow them to drop onto them, and, well, crush their skulls,” he starts.

“Is this going to sum up to ‘don’t let the skullcrushers crush you’? Shouto interjects.

“Well, yes, but you see, once they’ve committed to a drop location, their sheer mass means the momentum that would be required for them to change trajectory—”

“You’re telling me to get out of the way before they land on me.” Shouto scrubs a hand down his face.

Izuku falls silent.

Shouto shakes his head. “I have to go make sure Endeavor didn’t do anything too terrible to Momo. Thanks, Izuku.”

“You’re welcome,” he murmurs, as Shouto goes to face his father.

* * *

Shouto has been gone a long time. A lot longer than all the other times he’s tried to escape. Momo had come through earlier, so he’s made it at least as far as Asphodel, but who knows how long it would take to traverse the place, especially with the issue of the overflow of the River Phlegathon.

Maybe this time he’s not coming back.

Izuku sighs and tucks his arms around himself.

It’s… Well, good for him, if he’s finally made it out. He’ll find his mother and take her to live with him on Olympus with All Might and all the rest of them. He’ll be happy. It’s a good thing.

The floor tiles form an interesting tessellation through the hall. Some tiles are looking a little grimier than others, though; he’ll have to let Hagakure know before Endeavor notices.

The painful lump in his throat is making it difficult to swallow.

“Ugh.”

His eyes flick toward the source of the groan. It’s Shouto, pulling himself out of the Pool.

Relief washes over Izuku, followed by guilt. He shouldn’t be happy about Shouto having been killed yet again.

“Fucking Hydra,” Shouto grumbles, and Izuku scrambles to check the record before Shouto passes him.

“A red-horned one got you that time, did it? Yeah, those energy waves are pretty nasty; I imagine they’re a challenge to dodge.”

Shouto is unmoving, having stopped a few feet down the hall. He turns, slowly. “Red-horned?”

Izuku stares for a moment, before his brain catches up to the fact that Shouto is asking a legitimate follow-up question. “Uh, yeah! The red ones with the energy waves, the orange ones slam into the ground, green ones summon—”

Shouto grabs him by the shoulders and tingles spread along Izuku’s nerves from every point of contact between them. Has— Has Shouto ever touched him before? His heart races.

“There are different _colors?”_

“Yes?” Izuku blinks. “Corresponding to different—”

“Can you write it down for me?” Shouto’s eyes are intense. “Please,” he adds. A clear afterthought, but Izuku can appreciate the effort.

“S-Sure, of course!” Izuku beams.

“Thanks, Izuku.”

It’s genuine. No hint of sarcasm.

“You’re welcome, Shouto.”

* * *

Shouto makes it past the Bone Hydra, eventually. Only to die to an arrow through the heart from a Champion of Elysium.

He doesn’t seem to think much of Izuku’s explanation that it’s only natural he would have difficulty with one of the greatest warriors the world has ever seen.

But he also tends not to take it well whenever Izuku expresses surprise that he would have fallen to an enemy that he is surely capable of defeating.

 _Good to see you_ and _I’m glad you’re back_ don’t usually go over well, either, but sometimes Izuku slips up and says something along those lines anyway — it’s true, after all. He _is_ glad to see him. It’s possible to be happy to see him while still hoping for his success, even if it does create a perturbing amount of cognitive dissonance.

Izuku sighs. He has to figure out how to provide support in a way that Shouto appreciates; everything he says seems to only serve to discourage him.

* * *

Tokoyami comes looking for Shouto while he’s away on another escape attempt.

“He’s headed for the surface,” Izuku explains, willing the melancholy out of his tone.

Tokoyami frowns. “Without saying goodbye?”

Well, he had waved to Izuku on his way out. But Tokoyami is rarely at the House, with all his duties on the surface, so it’s not surprising that they wouldn’t have crossed paths since Shouto had started trying to get out.

“You might still be able to catch up with him,” Izuku offers. 

He won’t say that Shouto will probably be back soon anyway; Shouto deserves _someone_ to have faith in his ability to succeed. Aizawa is probably a decent source of encouragement, but since he’s the one who has been training Shouto it might be hard for Shouto to take that encouragement at face value instead of as an attempt to motivate him in his training.

Tokoyami flourishes his cloak and starts to head off.

“He probably won’t mind some assistance, if you find him,” Izuku calls. He’d go himself, but Endeavor would definitely notice his absence, whereas Tokoyami isn’t a fixture at the House to begin with.

Tokoyami pauses to nod before continuing on his way.

* * *

Slain by: Iida Tenya, the Bull of Minos.

The name alone sends a jolt of excitement through from head to toe. Maybe Aoyama Yuuga had been there too! 

But when he asks, Shouto seems baffled at the concept that they’d be willing to fight together at all — he must have learned of their mortal lives without being informed of what had transpired between them in the Underworld.

“Iida was doomed to suffer in Tartarus, you see, but when Aoyama later died and discovered that that was the case, he argued to your father that Iida should be elevated to Elysium along with him, because their battle had been honorable and he’d learned more about the circumstances behind Iida’s imprisonment in the Labyrinth…”

Shouto doesn’t seem especially interested in the explanation, eyes glazed over and staring off into the distance, so Izuku wraps it up as concisely as is possible.

It doesn’t go well when he tries to ask for Shouto to get Iida’s autograph for him next time he sees him.

Shouto stalks off after shutting him down with a curt refusal.

Izuku winces. Of course, the implication of asking such a favor is that Shouto will fail again and end up back at the House; otherwise, there would be no way to fulfill the request.

He slumps against the wall. Will he ever manage to have an interaction with the prince wherein he does _not_ shove his foot in his own mouth?

* * *

Izuku can’t breathe. _Why_ had Shouto just stripped down in front of him and tossed him his robes? What— How—?

He presses his hands to his cheeks, face hot, eyes squeezed shut. He drops into a squat, fingers tangling in his hair. Deep breaths, _deep breaths._

Heart somewhat more under control, he opens his eyes.

Is that…ink? On the fabric?

He frowns, and reaches out to lift the cloth in question closer.

This— _This—_

_To my greatest fan, Izuku — may you be ever victorious in battle. Vanquish your enemies without hesitation. Iida Tenya, the Bull of Minos_

Izuku squeals.

* * *

He’s never going to wear anything other than these robes Shouto has so thoughtfully gifted him. 

Shouto even _apologizes_ for being short with him over asking for the autograph. Well, not in exactly so many words, but basically almost an apology. 

And then— _And then—_

Shouto actually asks his advice. Voluntarily. He _asks Izuku_ how to better handle encounters with Nemean Chariots. And _smiles_ while doing so. _Smiles. At Izuku._

It’s such an unexpected turn of events that he’s not sure if he’d actually ended up articulating it all properly, that their most deadly aspect — the giant, heavy wheels under which one might find oneself crushed — is also their greatest weakness. The resultantly large turning radius should mean that it’s possible to attack from behind while remaining unharmed.

But Shouto seemed to take his advice seriously, so it can’t have come out entirely wrong.

And if he’d needed to lie down on the floor for a while to recover from that smile once Shouto was out of sight— Well. He’s the God of Sleep. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t lie on the floor whenever he wants. No one needs to know it has anything to do with how unfairly pretty and kind and courageous and determined the prince is.

* * *

Endeavor is even angrier than usual. The flames forming his beard and mustache have been wilder and less controlled; he’d thrown a bust of some philosopher against a wall and yelled at Hagakure about the mess before she’d even had a chance to _notice_ it needed cleaning up; even Tokoyami had been berated for falling behind on his duties.

It probably has something to do with how Shouto has been consistently closer and closer to succeeding in his attempts to leave the Underworld. It’s clear that Endeavor is not pleased. Momo had taken the brunt of his wrath earlier after evidently failing to stop Shouto once more. She had come by to warn Izuku that she would be making herself scarce and that Shouto should do the same if at all possible.

But if Shouto comes back in a bad enough mood from however he’d died out in Tartarus or Asphodel or Elysium, and Endeavor decides to escalate to direct conflict in the middle of the House, it won’t go well for anyone.

Which is why Izuku stops doing his job. He stashes the Ledger of the Dead behind a random bookcase and stops logging the details on the shades of mortals arriving in the Underworld. Once Endeavor notices that something has gone wrong and summons Izuku to address the issue, he’ll be able to keep him occupied for hours, maybe _days —_ with the details of all the necessary steps to rectify the problem with the records. It might result in some unpleasant consequences for him, but he’ll manage, and Endeavor will be distracted from confronting Shouto.

Hopefully. If all goes well.

* * *

It doesn’t go well. It goes very very badly. Possibly it has the exact opposite effect than he’d intended.

He’s having a hard time regretting it, though.

He’d been in the middle of weathering Endeavor’s scolding about the Ledger when Shouto had interrupted with the most fiercely protective look in his eyes Izuku had ever seen.

It had taken everything for Izuku not to swoon on the spot. _Swoon!_ As if he were some helpless mortal rather than a Personified Deity, son of the Night Incarnate Herself.

Ultimately, his plan may have only caused more trouble for Shouto, but… 

But maybe there’s something there. Or maybe he’s reading way too much into it. That spark in Shouto’s eyes could have just been anger. He could have just felt like picking a fight with Endeavor. 

But _maybe. Maybe_ Shouto feels something too.

Not that it matters. He belongs on the surface, and one day he’ll make it out there and never return.

* * *

Endeavor is away from the House attending to some unspoken item of business elsewhere in the Underworld. And Shouto has been gone a long, long time. 

Tokoyami had stopped by a while ago to pass along that he’d encountered Shouto in Elysium. Minor injuries only. So it must have been going well up until that point, at least. But even that had been a long time ago, now.

Izuku chews his lip, fidgets from foot to foot. The House is too quiet. Something is wrong.

His pacing has possibly left a track of worn tile in the hallway by the time that familiar head of red and white hair surfaces in the Pool.

Izuku blinks in confusion at his records. Shouto had been slain by…who? By…what? His eyes slide off the letters, his mind refuses to put them together into a word. And...where? Not Tartarus, Asphodel, _or_ Elysium — even the location is unreadable.

And Shouto himself is just standing there, staring blankly at the ground. Is he _shaking?_

Izuku steps closer. “What happened?”

Shouto doesn’t react until he takes him by the arms. His eyes flick up to meet Izuku’s, round and unguarded.

Izuku asks him again, and explains about the records.

Shouto’s pained laughter wrenches at his heart.

Because of course that’s where Endeavor had gone. To kill his own son, after all of his underlings had failed to manage it. Maybe the fact that Shouto is so shaken by such a thing is a good sign, actually — a sign that he’s retained a sense of what’s right and wrong, that he hasn’t become totally desensitized to killing and being killed.

Shouto slides to the floor and tucks his knees to his chest, his back against the wall. He looks small — smaller than Izuku can remember him ever looking.

Tentatively, Izuku approaches and crouches down. Shouto doesn’t rebuff him, so he moves to sit next to him. His breath catches as Shouto’s head drops to his shoulder, a solid, warm weight.

They sit there in silence for a long while, Izuku barely daring to breathe as Shouto leans against him. The sheer exhaustion radiating out of him is almost overwhelming. When was the last time he’d slept?

And then Shouto asks him about _love._ About mortal love, and whether gods are capable of the same sort of attachment.

And…he has to know, right? Izuku must not have been hiding his feelings well enough. Why else would Shouto be asking?

But if he’s asking such a question, doesn’t that mean…that he doesn’t feel the same? Because he would _know;_ if he felt the same way as Izuku, there’s no mistaking what it is. He would know gods are absolutely capable of love.

He swallows down the sudden nausea, chest painfully tight, and stammers out some vague answer, not entirely sure exactly what words he’s saying and in what order.

Shouto sighs and shifts against his side. “Would you suffer if you had to be separated forever from the one you love?”

Would he… Would he _suffer?_ How can Shouto even ask him that?

_He knows, he knows, he knows._

“The one I love?” he echoes, weakly.

Why not come out and say it? Why are they dancing around this?

“Hypothetically, I mean.”

Hypothetically. “Hypothetically.”

Can Shouto feel his heart pounding through where they’re touching?

There’s nothing hypothetical about it. As much as he supports Shouto’s desire to leave the Underworld, it _will_ tear Izuku’s heart to pieces when one day it’s Endeavor rising out of the Pool of Styx, instead of Shouto.

Shouto prompts him again, about this _hypothetical_ scenario where Izuku will never see him — no, _the one he loves —_ again.

Does he really need to hear Izuku admit it?

“Yeah,” Izuku murmurs, never having been able to lie to Shouto. “Yeah, it’ll break my heart. Would. Would break my heart. Hypothetically.”

He angles his face away so the tears dripping off his chin don’t land where Shouto can see or feel.

* * *

If there’s one single solitary upside to Shouto being killed by his own father, it’s that it means Endeavor is not at the House when Shouto returns.

The best Izuku can do is wrap his arms around him and hold him close each time. It never seems to get any easier for him. Sometimes Shouto tells him exactly what happened, in excruciating detail. The records still don’t keep track properly when Endeavor is involved.

If Shouto needs someone to know what’s happening to him, Izuku will listen.

No, it doesn’t get easier — but it can get harder, apparently.

He finds Shouto floating face up in the Pool. Alarmed, he wades in before he can think twice about it, until the blood rises past his waist. 

Tear streaks connect the corners of Shouto’s eyes to the glimmering red surface of the Pool. Izuku gets his arms hooked around Shouto’s chest and pulls him out.

“He died,” Shouto whispers, eventually, after the blood has dripped off the both of them and trailed back into the Pool. “I swear, he was dead.”

“What happened?” Izuku frowns, rubbing circles into Shouto’s back and coaxing him to rest, to press his face into Izuku’s neck like it sometimes seems to help him to do.

“He stood back up, and I couldn’t— I had nothing left.” The utter _defeat_ in Shouto’s voice is like nothing Izuku has heard from him before. “Maybe he can’t be beaten.”

* * *

Izuku does what he should have done a long, long time ago.

He makes Shouto sleep. He’s lost track of how long it’s been since Shouto started trying to escape, but it’s been nearly that long since Shouto truly, properly _slept._

So he looks into Shouto’s eyes, induces deep, dreamless sleep, and carries him to his chambers.

And he waits. Waits _days_ at Shouto’s bedside until he awakens. Momo and Tokoyami have agreed to keep Endeavor occupied in case he tries to interfere.

And he nearly fucks it all up with his own selfishness when Shouto does wake up. So close to success, and Izuku had almost complicated things by asking him to _stay._

No. Shouto deserves to be free. He _will_ be free.

Izuku lets him go.

* * *

It’s like a dagger through the chest, seeing Endeavor emerge from the Pool of Styx.

He’d known it would hurt. But it seems this kind of pain can’t truly be accurately anticipated without having experienced it before.

But it’s good. No matter how agonizing it is, it means Shouto made it out at last.

Izuku finds himself reaching out mentally, seeking out Shouto’s sleepy or sleeping mind. The mortals may suffer some poor sleep quality while he does so; it takes a lot of concentration. Oh well. They’ll survive.

Shouto is sleeping now, but there’s something wrong. It’s impossible to tell what, exactly, but severe injury could cause this sort of too-deep sleep. It’s the kind of sleep someone might not wake up from without intervention.

And what would happen then? Izuku shivers.

_Wake up. Shouto, wake up._

* * *

Izuku breathes a sigh of relief. Shouto has been asleep for days, but it’s finally shifted into the restful, comfortable sleep of recovery. Someone must be helping him. Could he have found his mother already? Or maybe the Olympians have found him.

Endeavor, inexplicably, has been making frequent trips out of the House. He can’t be searching on the surface, can he? There’s some sort of old pact that prevents him from venturing into All Might’s domain. There had been something along those lines that Izuku had learned a long time ago, though the exact details elude him.

With Endeavor gone, Izuku is free to cocoon himself in Shouto’s bed, in Shouto’s blankets. He spends most of his time there. He’ll catch up on his Ledger duties eventually. Once it doesn’t hurt so much anymore.

His mom is concerned. Of course she is. But there’s nothing to be done.

Tokoyami checks in on him, once, but he doesn’t have the energy to summon up much of a response.

Shouto is where he wants to be. Izuku tries, really _tries_ to take solace in that. It does help some. Maybe time will gradually fill the void in his chest, once Izuku starts to find things to care about again.

Aizawa, of all people, seems to understand him best. He’d sought Izuku out and lent his quiet support, and it was…something. Better than nothing. He’s dealing with a similar situation, apparently. Another mortal, now a shade in Elysium, whom he had loved and lost. No details, but he’d divulged enough for Izuku to piece together that Endeavor is preventing a reunion for some ridiculous, petty reason.

Izuku grits his teeth. Is there any misery in this wretched place that Endeavor _isn’t_ responsible for?

* * *

Shouto is coming back. He’s _coming back._

Izuku had overheard a pair of Furies reporting to Endeavor that Shouto has been making his way back down through the Underworld with an army of Olympians at his side — as well as a particular Champion of Elysium, among others.

It sounds like an exaggeration, but the heart of it rings true. He’d wondered why Shouto had stopped sleeping recently. With this news, it makes sense.

Izuku had caught a glimpse of Aizawa stiffening in recognition when the Furies had conveyed the name of the Champion accompanying Shouto.

He learns that Endeavor has been cultivating loyalty among the Furies that hadn’t given up on him after his weakness had been exposed when Shouto had defeated him.

“He’s planning to send them against Shouto and his allies,” Aizawa confirms, having listened in on the chaos taking place in the throne room.

Izuku catches his eye, and nods.

“Let’s do something about that.”

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is [@damaless](http://damaless.tumblr.com) and twitter is [@fandamaless](http://twitter.com/fandamaless), come interact if you like!


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